David Cooley is an American artist renown for his unique blend of geometric abstraction and realism. David Cooley was born in Hollywood, California in the year 1978.
Cooley is a very skilled artist whose artwork is a patchwork of mediums. The artist uses a dental tool to make his unique shapes on his canvas. Most works are made of acrylic paint, resin, fabric, and spray paint.
In this clip we view a show featuring many gallery artists including David Cooley:
The artist is now based out of Santa Barbara, California.
I enjoy the levels of realism and abstraction found in the work of this artist. If you enjoy this time of organized abstraction be sure and check out the work of Fred Tomasseli, another artist who enjoys blending many mediums in his art.
Vilmos Huszár was a Hungarian painter and designer who was part of the De Stijl movement. Vilmos Huszár was born in Budapest, Hungary in the year 1884.
Huszár also painted in a Cubist style for a period of time. The artist was also a furniture designer and an avid printmaker.
The artist moved to the Netherlands in 1905. He would be based out of the Netherlands for the majority of his career.
As a graphics designer one of his most renown works were advertising campaigns for Miss Blance Virginia cigarettes.
Below a great montage of works by Vilmos Huszár:
Vilmos Huszár passed away in 1960 at the age of 76 years old.
Price range information: Works range from $10,000 to $250,000.
I enjoy Huszár’s mix of shapes and color. His compositions with individual shapes show a great sense of movement.
Harvey Quaytman was an American painter and printmaker who specialized in geometric abstraction. Harvey Quaytman was born in Far Rockaway, New York in the year 1937. Many works of the artist include very large squares or crosses.
His father was a certified public accountant. His father would perish in a train accident just three years after the birth of the artist.
The artist briefly attended Syracuse University before switching to the Boston Museum School and Tufts University where he earned a B.A. degree.
One artist who inspired him was Piet Mondrian. Quaytman also was one of the first artists to use shaped canvases.
Quaytman was married to a writer, Susan Howe, and the couple had a child who turned out to be an artist named Rebecca Howe Quaytman. She was the previous post.
In this clip two of the artist’s daughters talk about their father’s work:
Harvey Quaytman passed away in 2002, at the age of sixty four, due to complications from cancer.
The artist was an elected member of the National Academy of Design.
Quaytman also won fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Price range information: The artist often worked in acrylics and prices range from $10,000 to $70,000. Works in oils can hit six figures. The artist also worked in pastels and mixed media.
Sophie Taeuber-Arp was a fantastic abstract painter born in Davos, Switzerland in the year 1889. Taeuber enjoyed the arts and was a painter, sculptor, and dancer. Sophie Taeuber-Arp is associated with geometric abstraction and also constructivism.
Her father was a pharmacist and died when the artist was only 2 years old. Her mother relocated the family.
Taeuber-Arp would attend various art schools and artist colonies in Germany and Switzerland.
She married the DADA married the artist Jean Arp.
Taeuber-Arp was a teacher of textile arts at the collegiate level.
The artist also penned a book on textile design. In the latter 1920s the couple would move to France and get French citizenship. In 1940 the couple would move from Paris to the south of France to avoid the Nazis.
In 1943 she was visiting Switzerland when she was killed by carbon monoxide poisoning.
In this clip a great montage of works by Sophie Taueber- Arp:
Price range information: Works range from $20,000 to $250,000.
If you enjoy geometric abstraction be sure and check out my post on Shirley Jaffe.
Jeffrey Steele is a British abstract artist. Steele’s work is based on geometric abstraction and pattern and design. He was also part of the Op Art movement with his black and white paintings which recall another British artist, Bridget Riley.
Jeffrey Steele was born in Cardiff, Great Britain in the year 1931. Steele went on to attend what is now Cardiff Metropolitan University. At the time it was the Cardiff College of Art.
The artist is also a gifted musician. He plays the trombone.
Two artists that provided inspiration to work in an abstract style were Victor Vasarely and Josef Albers.
Steele taught at the collegiate level at Portsmouth Polytech.
price range information: Sorry none available.
Steele flourished as an abstract artist in the 1970s. These works were mainly in black and white. Recently the artist has added to color and many of these newer works remind me artist Carlos Cruz Diez.
Brian Rice is a British artist renown for his abstract painting style.
Brian Rice was born in in the year 1936. Rice attended the Yeovil School of Art and also Goldsmith’s College located in London. He studied printmaking.
Below Brian Rice talks about painting and the London art scene in the 1960s. This was Rice’s most prolific time in his art career:
In this clip a great interview with Brian Rice. He talks about his families multiple generations of farmers. He also talks about how living on a farm and finding fragments of items that were more than 1,000 years old inspired him to begin painting again:
Rice was head of the Printmakers Council of Great Britain. His artwork can be found in the Tate Museum.
Stephen Westfall is an American artist renown for his abstract paintings. Stephen Westfall was born in Schenectady, New York in the year 1953. Westfall considers himself to be mix of Pop Art,Post Minimalist, and hard edged abstract styles. Westfall attended the University of California at Santa Barbara where he earned a B.F.A. and also an M.F.A.
Price range information: Works range from $3,000 for a print to $40,000 for an original oil.
The artist has been the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship.
Below a one minute interview with Stephen Westfall talking about the artist’s lifestyle:
Westfall is part of the collection of the Whitney Museum of New York City and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.
Here we view Stephen Westfall at the American Academy located in Rome, Italy. If you don’t wish to view the entire clip some great works are shown at the 3:40 minute mark of the clip:
What a great style of art. I enjoy the term Westfall calls anamous geometry. Geometric based work with some life or animation in it. Its a great name for his style of art.
Dwinell Grant was born in Springfield, Ohio in the year 1912. Dwinell Grant was renown for his style of abstraction that used basic geometric shapes.
Grant attended the Dayton Art Institute located in Dayton, Ohio. Grant then moved to New York City and attended the National Academy of Design.
Dwinell Grant taught at the collegiate level at Wittenberg College also located in Ohio.
Here we view one of the many short animated films made by Grant. Remember he didn’t have Microsoft Windows Paint! On many occasions one film might require more than 3,o00 separate drawings. These works are still underappreciated to this day!
The artist enjoyed trying new mediums and produced many short animated films of less than ten minutes in length. Of his time spent in the commercial arena of art the majority of his time was spent medical illustrations.
Much of the artist’s early work was purchased by the Guggenheim Foundation.
Grant was a very successful commercial artist illustrating medical books and even producing training videos for the United States Navy.
Alex Brown is a wonderful American artist working in an abstract manner. Alex Brown was born in the year 1966.
My favorite works of the artist that combine realism and abstraction in the landscape. The painting of a doorway but using circles and ovals. Brown can even apply his technique to portraits. In this regard his work reminds of one of the original painters of the grid, Chuck Close.
Brown sometimes uses digital technology in order to help break his composition down into fun shapes including ovals and geometric shapes.
Price range information: Works range from $3,000 to $20,000. Brown works in oils, watercolors, and ink.
Willard Grayson Smythe was an American painter renown for his abstract style of painting. Willard Smythe was born in Bellefontaine, Ohio in the year 1906.
For his artistic education Smythe attended the Art Institute of Chicago. After graduating he joined the staff as an instructor and stayed for 31 years. Smythe was a pioneer in abstract art and he taught the first class of abstract art at the Art Institute of Chicago.
Smythe called his own style scattered balance by design.
Like Kandinsky Smythe was great at mixing the basic shapes of a circle, triangle, or square with other organic shapes that gives his work movement and vitality.
Smythe worked as a commercial graphics designer and even worked as an art director for the Encyclopedia Britannica company. Before Google this was how research was done! Smythe was responsible for inserting pictures into the book.
Smythe was a member of the American Society of Arts and Letters.
Willard Grayson Smythe passed away in 1995 at the age of 89 years of age.
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